John Spencer Blues Explosion

From one legend to another...

There are nights when I go to a show without a ticket and somehow luck my way in with the attitude of "if I don't get in, I'll just go home". Tonight was one of those shows where I went down, stood in line, and paid full price at the door to make sure that I got to see the show of the year, so far. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was at Exit In and I have been holding back the excitement pee for over a couple of months to finally get to rock out with this band.

Another great thing about this night was getting to share it with my oldest sister Sally Kemp, and my dad Kenny Kemp. My sister and I went to see JSPX in the mid-to-late nineties at 328 so it was fun to get to see them again all these years later, along with my dad who everyone knows, is too cool. Anyway, we sat at the Gold Rush a little too long and miss the headliner's first song.

Upon arriving amidst the second song from JSBX, we were instantly pumped and sonically pleased. Jon was in pure form, growling and screeching into the distorted mic and incorporating his name into almost every song. I have been listening to these guys on my ipod all week and I still only recognized a couple of songs. "Attack" was fun to sing (scream) along with and "Bell Bottoms" was raucous as pancakes on a school day. Think about that.

All I can say is that Jon Spencer is a superhero of mine and it was great to see/meet him tonight at my favorite club. The Explosion has been around for close to 20 years now and their horseplay intimacy is unmatched. They take turns making up for the lack of bass and the drummer makes tons of noise on his minimalistic set. This was really one of the best shows of the year so far, it's gonna tough to beat.

Jeff Beck

Going into tonight's show, I knew about this much about Jeff Beck: He was in the Yardbirds, he's in the Hall of Fame twice, Pink Floyd was too intimidated to ask him to replace Syd Barrett, and every guitar player I respect has him in their top 3. It was cool to be at the Ryman and watch that many guitar heros watch their hero. Luckily, I had procured my ticket earlier in the week, not wanting to go through this again. There was no way I was going to miss this one.

I got in early enough to catch most of the opener, Tyler Bryan, who I'm pretty sure also opened for Heart. This time he was without his band, alone with just a guitar, and he did alright. He can really play guitar well, but his songwriting seems a little on the weak sauce side. He must have one helluva manager.

Jeff Beck came out and started the show much like a playoff hockey game, as soon as the puck dropped, it was on full force and wasn't letting up. I'm not familiar with his work enough to recognize any of his songs, but each one was unique and rocked with equal force. The band was super tight, featuring former Prince bassist Rhonda Smith, and Narada Michael Walden on drums. This rhythm section was both rowdy and funky, adding great dynamics to the songs, as well as providing the show's only lead vocals on covers "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Little Wing", and Sly's "Higher". Jason Rebello added another dimension on the keys, providing something for Beck to bounce licks off of. Other moments of note were his personal takes on classic songs like "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "A Day In The Life". Of course my favorite part came in the encore, when Beck paid tribute to his hero, Les Paul, with the only Strat-free number of the night.

Jeff Beck didn't say much during the show, but he didn't need to. He held a Nashville Ryman crowd, probably full of the harshest, holier than thou guitar players, in the palm of his hand and showed us all how it's done. I knew tonight that I was in the presence of a legend, one of the best guitar players ever. Clapton should be on the side of the stage changing this guys strings and swapping out guitars for him. Anyway, I'm really glad I got to see this show, and I can't wait to dive into the world of Jeff Beck.

Hayseed Dixie

Tonight I went to check out a band I had heard of in the past few years but never caught live. Hayseed Dixie was playing at my favorite venue, Exit In, and a couple hours at the Gold Rush put me in the perfect place for this show.

Hayseed Dixie is billed as a band that plays AC/DC songs in a bluegrass style. They sure did a lot of that, but they also played other hard rock standards, as well as a list of originals from a 10 year run. They started off with "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and never took their foot off the throttle. They burned through other hits like "Highway To Hell" and "Hells Bells", as well as some all time classic rock greats. They switched from Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", to Zep's "Black Dog", to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs", with even a little "Bad Moon Risin'" thrown in for the boomers.

For every classic cover they nailed perfectly, they had an original that was equal parts clever, smart, and musically capable. There was a song sung in all Dutch, and a few about past relationships, and they were all on par with any other bluegrass band in Nashville. They closed out the show with a rowdy version of "Dueling Banjos", which the banjo player's father allegedly wrote.

These guys were a lot of high energy, mixed with tons of talent. They were appreciative of the crowd response and seemed to love the same things I love, mainly making music and drinking beer. The novelty of this band was a lot of fun, but their overall musical ability blew me away.

Queens of the Stone Age

Spring is here, and with it, comes enough money to start going to shows again. It's been a long, slow, showless winter but the sun is starting to shine again and the awesome rock shows are slowly starting to trickle back into town. Tonight's Queens of the Stone Age show at the Ryman has been on my cloudy radar for a while, and I was glad when I finally found that lovely soul on Craigslist that just wanted to get rid of their tickets to someone who would enjoy the show.

My partner in crime for the night needed a bite to eat, thus detouring us into Robert's Western World. Although this little pit stop made us miss the opening act at the Mother Church, the band playing at the honky tonk was really good. The guitar playing front man switched seamlessly between chicken pickin' on a Telecaster and gliding up and down his pedal steel. We got a solid half hour of surfy-rockabilly selections and a good dose of the lower Broadway vibe, not to mention a few cheap cans of Busch.

When we got to the show, we quickly decided that our back row lower level seats just wouldn't do so we made our way up to my usual spot in the walkway in the back of the balcony. I love this spot because it's right next to the light guy and I can stand up the whole time without being heckled by lazy seat nazis.

The first half of the show consisted of the band playing their entire self-titled debut album, which as far as I was concerned, was great. Not being very familiar with much of their catalog at all, I was aware of their rocking potential and I tend to like most bands' earlier stuff anyway. The Queens are a good ol' fashioned rock band, with a tone which is one of all around badass-ness and rock debauchery. Drinking vodka from a beer bottle, Josh Homme delivered his falsetto vocals and savage guitar riffs like a true rock hero. Joey Castillo banged out those tricky drum lines without a flaw and Michael Shuman's bass sounded Entwistle-iscious. The other two guitar players brought additional layers of attack as well as extras such as shakers, keys, and electronic noisemakers that sounded like they were bought at Radiohead's yard sale. The second half of the show consisted of selections from the rest of their albums, including a song requested by a fan which Homme explained was about a teenage experience with LSD, as well as one of the only two songs I recognized, "No One Knows".

The Queens of the Stone Age brought it like I knew they would. Their show wasn't full of fancy lights and flashy effects, but rather filled with crunching, well crafted rock songs and a killer band dynamic. This band to me is one of the most underrated rock acts of my generation and I'm glad I got to see them and can't wait to engulf myself in their entire index.

Old Union

Last night I pulled myself out of the cave that has been my hibernation space for the last month or so and caught myself some good old fashioned live Old Union music at 3rd and Lindsley. It was great to get out and see some familiar faces along with a band that I had never heard of and instantly became a fan of.

After the early show band payed tribute to the entire Police/Sting catalog, and seemingly the entire crew from the Police 2010 reunion tour cleared the stage, two dudes calling themselves the Coldstares took the stage and surprised the hell out of a roomful of people. Their similarity to the Black Keys was undeniable, but as far as I'm concerned, they were much better. I saw the Keys at the Ryman and left early, whereas I couldn't get enough of these guys at 3rd. The singer/guitar player/effects box stomper was super tight with his riffs and solos that sounded like what would happen if Tom Morello got the blues at Led Zeppelin's house. The drummer did a great job filling in the spaces sometimes left open by other rock duos. I bet they'd love to have the chance to tell the Allman Brothers that it really only takes two dudes to play a rockin' Whippin' Post. Keep an eye out for the Coldstares. That is some awesome local rock.

I guess nowadays when Randy Boen, Randy Russell and Spotty are billed to open acoustically, it's a safe bet that means a full on Ballhog set. The 20 minute set up was long and the set was treacherously short. There was an old favorite, an "East Nashville Lullaby" that did a great job of doing what a lullaby is intended to do, and a new one from Russell and Spotty about county jail. How does Randy remember all those words and changes? He nailed it.

Old Union finally came on and treated the 30 or so fans left to a great set. Favorites like "Motels and Highways", "Sweet Freedom" among others were mixed with awesome covers including "Ophelia", "Let It Bleed", and "Serve Somebody". For some reason, Dave the Freight Train was unable to play drums on this night so he was replaced by the drummer from Chuck's solo blues band whose name I never caught. He did a pretty good job for a fill in. He nailed all the stops and changes, and although Dave's rock shoes are almost impossible to fill, the drumming, along with the stellar bass playing from funk house Dubbers, was good and the sub didn't really seem to affect the show. A long jammy sit in from Randy Boen and a vocal appearance from Randy Russell just added to the sense of community. It turned out to be another great night with one of my favorite local bands and all my friends. A good return to live music life after a long winter's hibernation.

Boom Ticket and the Reson-H-Beamers

East Nashville
The 5 Spot
Three bands that I know well
how many times have I seen Boom Ticket
The Resonators
and H Beam

The Facebook reminders
like a pile of electronic fliers
on my laptop windshield
I guess there was just no way
no way I could miss this one

Boom Ticket screamed out
their first line
IT'S TOO LATE
ironically, right on time
Adam (from Boom Ticket) and crew
pumped up and heavily miked
New pickups in the Strat
apparently means turn it up
even more

Some new songs
some old songs
bongos and congas
as if the prince of darkness
was in concert on the beach
with pina coladas
Set Bobby Free
to bang it out
without mosquitoes buzzing about

More guitars
mean more parts or just
the same line an octave apart
the harmonies in threes
not quite masters of the art
maybe a little more vocal
in the monitors please

not much new
to speak of here
more polished more mature
more confident

Duncan on the other hand
has switched lead guitarists and
in the process reinvented
the Resonators band
with new guitarist Scott Alexander
old friend from Rub
plays not as many notes
but with more wonder

Curt and Tony
still bring the beat like
ebony old school students
of Sly and his family
and on bass Bootsy May

new direction for the Resonators
new songs new writing teams
Duncan Scott and Curt
together finally
this should
be good

H Beam
the show is the thing
long winded characters
puppets and costumes
acting with lines and themes
and in between
songs that rock with a band
supreme

Russell Wright
rode off into
the family sunset
replaced highly
by Frank from Guy Smiley Blues Exchange
yeah he got it right

the music rocked
the skits went on
and on
and on
sometimes i just wish
for another song
but i know it's their thing
so i go pee and wait
wait for the next one

you go H beam
the only ones
who do YOUR thing
well
truly unique and far-out
the right band
for your time and place
some might say
some might say

Garth Brooks

Last night marked the beginning of the epic nine show (in six nights) stand for Garth Brooks at the Bridgestone Arena. It started as a one-off benefit to raise money for victims of the million-year flood that Nashville endured earlier this summer, but when the tickets sold out in minutes, they eventually ended up with nine uber-sold-out shows and apparently millions of dollars to donate. Way to go Garth. Coming out of retirement to help out is a pretty cool move. I did my part by being the first to respond to a Craigslist ad for free tickets. Us Kemps have always been a philanthropic bunch, always willing to rescue unwanted, unused, and un-charged-for tickets.

I got to a seat in the middle of the opening set from some singer songwriter chick. I thought it was supposed to be Trisha Yearwood. Shows how much I know. Either way, it was a boring set from a boring country mare. She was cute, from a hundred yards away, but she just seemed to lack any kind of energy or stage presence. Lucky for me, she only played for about a half hour. Long enough for me to have a pretty heated debate with an elderly arena usher and have to find a new seat.

When Garth finally came out, the place erupted into an arm waving Wrangler fest in response to the "Hello Music City!" greeting. The entire arena was sold out, even behind the stage, and the crowd was super pumped to see their favorite hits that were, until recently, uncertain to ever see the stage again. He started off with my two favorite numbers, "Rodeo" and "Papa Loved Mama", which got me out of my "I hope this isn't a hokey waste of time" state and into a "this is gonna be awesome" groove. Even though there were a few opening night bugs in the sound, and the lap steel seemed to be coming from a Stratocaster, songs like "Two of a Kind", "Shameless", and the acoustic "Unanswered Prayers" were truly monumental. Another big moment was the version of "We Shall Be Free", complete with a collage of photos from the aforementioned flood. You could tell that Garth was back in his element, like he had never left, especially when he threw his head back and yelled "Man, I've missed you guys!"

Now, with this being an historical marquee event in Nashville, everyone knew that the possibilities of huge guest appearances were there. The only question was, who would it be? Resident Aussie country star Keith Urban? Maybe the habitual show crasher John Hiatt? Sadly and fortunately, respectively, no. This being the first night, we settled for a couple songs from Steve Wariner and a suite from Mrs. Brooks herself, Trisha Yearwood that included "She's In Love With The Boy". I guess it was cool, whatever. I was glad to see her leave. I can only assume that once Garth settles into the groove, he will bring the star power.

At long last, he dove into "Friends In Low Places", the penultimate 90's country hit/crowd pleaser. I won't lie, it was freakin' great, as was the set closer, "The Dance". I did however leave before the encore which turned out to be "Ain't Goin' Down Till The Sun Comes Up". I was slightly sorry to miss that one but I feel like I got my money's worth and it was worth it to beat the traffic, both outgoing and incoming for the second show of the night.

Not ever having been a huge fan of Garth's, I still enjoyed having the chance to see him live, complete with headset mic and starched button down. He is indeed a great showman. It was also great to hear him proclaim "This night is about laughter and raisin' hell!" I was especially content to have gotten to see the first show of this run. I can only assume that the inevitable law of diminishing returns will take affect and the pure emotion felt on this night will fade. Sure he will still put on a great show, but there's no substitute for the feeling you get when you play for 20 thousand for the first time in a dozen or so years, even if they are still wearing the exact same huge belt buckles and boots they were wearing to Hillsboro Middle School all those years ago. Hopefully, two guitars will get smashed together at some point, maybe when Hiatt finds his way onstage.